Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Teens inundated with phone prompts day and night, research finds

nbcnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 438 posts

Re: Teens inundated with phone prompts day and night, research finds

#381

Post by grotorea »

ekidd wrote: post #380
alexanderchr wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a breach of trust. I give apps access to my immediate attention so they can notify me of things that need my attention. Not for telling me about their new features or some crappy partner deal. For this reason I have a one strike policy for apps. One marketing notification and permissions are revoked. Missing out on surprisingly little although it has made me stop using some services entirely.

> For this reason I have a one strike policy for apps. One marketing notification and permissions are revoked. Yup, this is very easy to do on Android. Long-press any notification, and you can change the notification preferences for that app. The first time I see a marketing notification, I gag that app permanently. Takes less than 3 seconds. If this also prevents that app from being useful, oh well, time to uninstal…

I really wish Google would enforce proper categorization. Risking missing something on any (somewhat) important app because of the occasional marketing notification seems not worth it to me.

Re: Teens inundated with phone prompts day and night, research finds

#382

Post by drdeca »

FridgeSeal wrote: post #202
donmcronald wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what I do! Google and Apple could instantly fix the problem (of co-mingling essential and marketing notifications) if they wanted to . The current situation is like getting opted in to "street signs and flashing billboards". It's stupid.

I have an iOS device, so can’t speak for Google, but I suspect that’s what Apple has been _trying_ to do. The problem is that these apps are essentially adversarial in their notifications. If you have a mechanism for “only the most essential notifications”, then they simply mark all their notifications as “essential” (looking at you Uber). Try to limit their notifications using “only is summary” or disabling them and…

> If you have a mechanism for “only the most essential notifications”, then they simply mark all their notifications as “essential” (looking at you Uber)

then perhaps Apple should say to them “either don’t mark these kinds of notifications as essential, or you get removed from the App Store”?

Re: Teens inundated with phone prompts day and night, research finds

#383

Post by grotorea »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #269
FridgeSeal wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an iOS device, so can’t speak for Google, but I suspect that’s what Apple has been _trying_ to do. The problem is that these apps are essentially adversarial in their notifications. If you have a mechanism for “only the most essential notifications”, then they simply mark all their notifications as “essential” (looking at you Uber). Try to limit their notifications using “only is summary” or disabling them and…

> then they simply mark all their notifications as “essential" That's like getting spam mail from your bank. In the physical world this would be illegal

Is it? Really?

Re: Teens inundated with phone prompts day and night, research finds

#384

Post by grotorea »

dvngnt_ wrote: post #199
donmcronald wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what I do! Google and Apple could instantly fix the problem (of co-mingling essential and marketing notifications) if they wanted to . The current situation is like getting opted in to "street signs and flashing billboards". It's stupid.

on android this is a solved problem via notification categories.

It's a solved problem if the app developer wants it to be. Else it can just throw everything into the same category.

Re: Teens inundated with phone prompts day and night, research finds

#385

Post by bravetraveler »

neilparikh wrote: post #224
FridgeSeal wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So does Uber (+ eats); I don’t want deals or vouchers, I don’t want to sign up to your subscription service, I only want to know when the car is arriving. Instagram I had to disable from notifications entirely, so now I miss messages from friends frequently, because the app bombards you with so much unrelated junk. I suspect these companies know this, they know we don’t want spurious notifications, but they abuse wha…

For Uber and UberEats, turns out you actually can disable marketing notifications, under the communication settings, it's just hidden away.

Funny, I had turned off notifications for UberEats exactly due to this.

You can't actually manage these notifications until re-opening the door, re-enabling them.

There are currently six categories in here. Who wants to take bets until these shift, nullifying the point?

Re: Teens inundated with phone prompts day and night, research finds

#390

Post by aidos »

masfuerte wrote: post #122
aidos wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know how long ago that was so it’s hard to say “things are different now”, but my 11 year old can’t take the school bus without having a mobile app for her ticket.

Are you sure? I don't have a smartphone and I also live in England. There are lots of services where the happy path expects a smartphone but I'm yet to find a service that actually requires it.

They don’t take cash and in theory you can pay by card but it doesn’t work.
Post reply on HN